While bicycling has been popular for many years in the United States and throughout the world, it has recently enjoyed an increase in popularity, particularly among young adults. Unfortunately, many of these young adults live in crowded urban and suburban communities where it is often difficult and sometimes dangerous to ride a bicycle. As a result, these adults are often forced to transport their bicycles in an automobile or pick-up truck in order to get to a suitable place for riding.
To make the transportation of such bicycles easier, many systems have been developed for securing a bicycle to an automobile. Systems have also been developed for securing bicycles to the bed of a pickup truck. However, the systems developed, thus far, for pick-ups have many drawbacks. For example, the pick-up truck bicycle rack advertised by the Yakima Company of Arcata, Calif. in Yakima's 1988 sales brochure is unnecessarily complex in that it employs a rack which extends across the entire bed of the pick-up truck. The Yakima system also employs two "L" brackets to secure the ends of the rack to the rail of the truck bed. It also appears from Yakima's brochure that permanent holes must be drilled in the truck bed in order to secure the "L" brackets to the truck bed's rail.
Hollywood Engineering in its 1988 sales brochure for its model T900 Bicycle Carrier discloses a pick-up truck bicycle rack which is similar to the Yakima system in that it also utilizes a rack which extends across the bed of the truck. The Hollywood system is an improvement, however, over the Yakima system in that it employs a clamping system for securing the rack to the bed of the truck which does not require the drilling of any holes in the truck bed, sidewall or rail. A major drawback, however, to the Hollywood system is that it appears that it can be rather quickly disassembled with an allen wrench, thereby enabling a thief to quickly steal any bicycles secured thereby.
Another bicycle rack system for trucks which utilizes a rack that extends across the truck bed is advertised in the Mid-Summer 1988 edition of Performance Bicycle Shop. This rack employs two telescoping sections which are held in place against the truck bed's sidewalls by tension. The tension is created by threadably extending the telescoping sections until their respective ends firmly rest up against the truck bed's sidewalls, much like a shower curtain rod rests up against the walls of a shower stall. This telescoping rack system appears to be quite easy to install and, according to the advertisement, does not mar the truck's paint finish. It is not, however, lockable and testing of the system has revealed that it pushes the sidewalls of most truck beds apart.
Another system for securing a bicycle to a pick-up truck bed is disclosed in a sales brochure published in 1988 by the Cycle Cinch Company of El Cajon, Calif. This system is quite simple in that it consists entirely of a bracket with holes provided in it for receiving a bicycle skewer. In addition, a bicycle can be locked to the bracket with a commercially available cable and padlock system. A major drawback to this system, however, is that bolt holes must be drilled in the truck bed to secure the bracket to the truck bed.
Yet another system for securing a bicycle to the bed of a truck is disclosed in an article written by Fred Zahradnik in the June, 1988 edition of Bicycling Magazine. This system utilizes a clamp which clamps to the outside surface of a truck bed rail. The system, however, as disclosed is not lockable. Moreover, it appears from the photograph in the article that the clamp could be easily pulled off the truck bed rail even if it were provided with a lock. This system is available from the Marne/Truck Rack Company of Pasadena, Calif.
While all of the aforementioned systems undoubtedly secure a bicycle to the bed of pick-up truck, a need still exists for a system which is inexpensive, lockable and which can be quickly secured to a truck bed without marring the truck bed's finish and without having to drill any holes in the truck bed's sidewalls or rail.